The BlogReader sample is an excellent place to start speeding up your Windows 8 development skills. The tutorial is available here and the complete source code is available here

Create a project called WindowsBlogReader and create pages for ItemsPage.xaml, SplitPage.xaml and DetailPage.xaml and copy the corresponding code blocks from the sample listed above.

Created a class file FeedData.cs and copy the code. Finally, create a class DateConverter.cs and copy the code associated with it.

With that you should be able to build and run the project. There seems to be one issue in the sample feeds listed that the first week (feed1) doesn’t seem to expose it. So you can skip that and use the second feed as first feed. You will end up with one feed less but it works.

I had demonstrated this in the recent TechDays at Chennai. How we can use the Search Contract and implement Search for within the Blog Titles.

First off, we need to declare that the App will be using Search Contract, in the Package.appmanifest file

Next, we would need a handle of the Search Contract when user types on the search window in Charms Menu.

If you had completed the code sample from the link above, you would have ItemsPage.xaml and ItemsPage.xaml.cs. Open the ItemsPage.xaml.cs.

Import the namespaces using System.Collections.ObjectModel and System.Linq.

in the ItemsPage() constructor, right after this.InitializeComponent(); add the following code